The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-10-16

on his part, aud secured a letter OF
refutalion from Judge Sullivan to that
effect. This refutation, however, was
couched in terms so specific that one
might easily infer. although this
particular ex-iudge had not approached
him for such purpose, some other
ex-iudge might have done. The &C
cused declares himself ready to show
proofs whenever requested by the
proper authority. As the present grand
jury seems thoroughly infused with
the spirit of its calling, it is quite
probable that the gentleman will be
accorded the privilege. The matter
will doubtless be carried further, and
will attract absorbing attention on &C
count of the prominence of the
persons brought in question. Let
me say, however that not one
breath of suspicion attaches to the
official integrity of Judge ullivan, for
he is regarded by the public as incor-
ruptible. The people are very c1Eous
to ascertain, nevertheless, whether any
such attempt was ever made, and if so,
why attention was not drawn TO it. and
prosecutions begun against the guilty
persons.
But corrupt as the municipal life of
San Francisco appears to be, there is
little reason to believe that private life
is much better. The one, indeed, is apt
to be but reflex of the other. From
even cursory perusal of the papers,
one is likely to gain the impression that
it is one of the wickedest cities on the
face of the earth; and 1 seriously ques-
ition whether it is not. San francisco
| in its early years, as every one knows,
was notorious for its utter lawleSsness,
and vice and crime held high carnival
during many yea S. AS time passed
and as society became more permanent
of course, there came an improvement,
but there must be progress much farther
on this line before she may fatter her
self as being one of the Virtuous cities
o. the world.
Fast as modern society Is, fast as it is
in every considerable city and town in
| the country, here, without question, it
| is of the fastest. Sunday is the great
pleasure day. Excursions, ball games,
CIrcusses, theatres, etc., are quite the
prop r thing; lager beer, wine and
gambling. their customary aceompani-
| ments. To one brought up to respect
the Sabbath and to see it respected, this
appears to be all wrong. [ am pretty
much of the opinion that this breaking
awav from the restraints OF the Sabbath
is responsible for a large share of the
wickedness to be seen to-day. A proper
regard for that day serves as an arrestor
to society. When it is cast aside, So
ciety is at once set adrift upon the
bosom of a shoreless sea, and drifted
hither and thither by every wind that
blows.
The great bane of American social
life, IItake 1t, is the growing looseness OF
the marriage tie. Divorces are the most
common things in the world. The
courts, like great mills, turn them out
at wholesale. 1t was stated in the
papers a short time since that in one
day hundred applications for divorce
were entered in Chicago ourts. l don't
say that San Francisco is much better
in this respect; indeed, it is not. Here,
as there, couple is no sooner married,
then, the brief honeymoon being over,
these two that have been made one,
suddenly find that their one is unmis-
takably composed of big tlCO, and the |
same house becomes too limited for
mutual comfort. A frivolous reason, !
perhaps, an ''incompatibility of temper"
is the asserted cause; yet it seems really |
too bad that this was not found out be
fore the nuptial knot had been tied. |
Shame upon such system! 1t is little |
better than free love-" and free love |
means the destruction of all we hold |
most dear in our social life.
There is another sin that largely at
tracts attention here, which is justly |
termed 1.-The murder of the innocents."
1t is SO prevalent as to excite the gravest |
fears of the press and all right-minded |
people. Women of society, women who |
love amusement. have not time to be- |
come mothers; nay, they choose rather
to stif1e incipient life. 1t saves, you |
know, heap of trouble! Two such |
aggravated cases have recently come to |
light. But these are two beside legion |
of others that quietly sleep in oblivion. |
One, a young girl, seeking to hide the |
evidence of her shame, goes to one of |
those many dens of iniquity |
known as maternity homes. An ont
of-the-way spot in an old ceme- |
terry marks her final resting place. Had |
the crime not been unearthed by an |
alert press it would never have reached |
public notice, and the vampires that |
feed upon human lives would have es-
capped the little atonement that they
can now make. The other case was
that of a middle-aged woman, the |
mother If six children. She went TO |
another of her sex. for special treat
ment. Two or three days alter she was |
dead If these cases only serve to de-
crease such practices they will not have |
occurred in vain; but the probability is
that in a few short days they will be
forgotten, and the great stream of in
EQUITY flow on undiminished. If the
people here and elsewhere would make
a note of the Augean stables existing
amidst themselves, they would scarcely
nave time to raise up their hands in
holy horror and cry vociferously for the
publication of Utah.
The garbs that vice assumes in great
cities are many and various. The ap-
proach of the tempter is often so silent
and insidious as to entrap the unwary
before danger is even suspected.
Let me cite a recent Instance: Ollie
Hutchinson is a woman of about 80,
fairly good-looking, whose business
it was to ingratiate herself into the
good graces of young girls 1t seems
that she was lover of the beautiful, or
rather she was the agent of another
who was aIoYer Of the beautiful. She
procured pretty and well-formed young
girls to pose in the nude, for which she
agreed to pay a stipulated price. But